We've Got Tonight
by ilovetvalot
Summary: They all had ways of dealing with stress.


_**Author's Note: Okay, readers, I think (and that's a big word for me these days) that I'm back. I'm sorry if I've disappointed anyone with my lack of updates. Real life (deployments, children, my health, etc.) have taken a huge toll on me these days. But I'm going to make every effort to become more dependable.**_

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_**Again, thanks for bearing with me, my fanfic friends!**_

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**We've Got Tonight**

Horrible cases were an expected component of the job they did.

Working high-profile crimes, which were always accompanied by equally high-profile captures, almost always took an invariable toll on the human psyche. Each person, individual to his or her very core, had different coping mechanisms. There wasn't a right or wrong way to combat the stress each member of the BAU team felt on a regular, ongoing basis.

For Emily, her method to beat her madness was losing herself in whatever the newest mass market paperback on the newsstands offered. After the stress of a long day, often she'd curl on the bed of whatever hotel the team happened to be holed up inside and simply lose herself in a fictional world where the outcome would be clear by the last page of the book.

For Morgan, he'd hit the nearest gym, taking his frustration out on whatever punching bag or treadmill was available for usage. Often, he'd have his iPod blasting in his ears as he vented his frustration on an inanimate object while visualizing whatever unsub they pursued.

Rossi, the solitary lone wolf, could often be found in the back corner of whatever local bar the vicinity offered, his focus less on the local culture and more on his own internal thoughts. Glass of scotch sitting to his right, he'd mull over their case and make pertinent notes, perhaps for a book at a future date.

Reid, conversely, had become particularly enamored of computer games, often playing well into the wee hours of the morning. Penelope Garcia could be partially blamed for his newest fixation. World of Warcraft, as violent as it was, was particularly addictive.

Each had relatively harmless vices to help minimize the stressors that went hand in hand with their chosen careers.

Of course, all but two did.

Aaron Hotchner and Jennifer Jareau had found a much more carnal way to combat the pressures they faced. Against all odds, they'd found solace in each other.

In unspoken agreement, at some point in each terrible case they found one gravitating toward the other's room. Together they slaked their combined frustrations on each other. Each taking. Each giving.

Neither knew exactly how their relationship had evolved. It had been after Haley's death. And after Will's mental departure, his physical presence still a peripheral part of her world. At first, Aaron and JJ had been two kindred souls searching for comfort in another's embrace.

It hadn't been about sex, per se. It had been about feeling. It had been about the connection. It had been about two needy, damaged individuals finding some level of peace in a world constantly twisting chaotically around them.

In those shadowed hotel rooms, they didn't have to be the poised Jennifer Jareau or the stoic Aaron Hotchner. They could simply exist in a world filled with passion and need. Often, desperation overwhelmed one, and sometimes both, of them. Popped shirt buttons, the occasional split seam and ripped pantyhose were commonplace when their mutual excitement exploded. In those moments when the fervor overcame them, each needed the taste...the feel of the other's warm flesh against them.

No one that knew them, not even their team, would have imagined that either man or woman could exhibit such zealous enthusiasm. But when one had seen the depths of depravity on a regular basis as they did, wasn't their ardor to be expected?

Sometimes desperate, sometimes gentle, each time their bodies collided, it only fueled their obsession for each other. In JJ, Aaron could lose himself and release all his tightly held constraint. Licking, biting, sucking...he could savor every inch of her and remind himself that there was a reward for all they endured together. She, alone, could make him feel those long forgotten sensations of gut wrenching pleasure. In her body, he found a succor that had long been denied.

For JJ, it wasn't Aaron's confident touch alone that sent her to heights of pleasure she'd never before experienced. It was knowing that in his arms, no matter how wild, how volatile their loving was, she was safe. Protected. Even at his most unstable...when those cases hit way too close to those they loved...his fiery touch could ignite her, setting her ablaze with wanton desire. But never once had she been afraid. Instead, she'd relished the moments when he released every inhibition and simply plundered her willing body. He devastated her defenses...destroyed the barriers that stood between her and most men. He touched her - and not only in the physical sense.

As many nights as they'd made love in those nameless hotels they frequented, the exact opposite had also happened on the others. Many times, they'd merely lain in bed, clinging to each other, mentally willing away the demons that tortured them, both real and imagined. They rarely spoke of their shared chemistry, choosing to simply accept it, silently grateful that they'd found someone to share the nightmare with.

Being with each other...even in stolen seclusion...eased the burden. For a while, neither was alone and each had an anchor to cling to.

One day, they'd finally be forced into asking themselves what it...this odd, albeit satisfying, bond… meant. One day they'd be forced to take those emotions out of their self-imposed boxes and analyze them, and that a thought neither of them particularly appreciated nor looked forward to doing. After all, examining it...this connection they shared...risked ruining it. Scrutinizing their shared relationship could potentially spoil what made it special. What good could come of probing an equation that had proven successful?

Except, slowly, both were falling a little deeper into whatever this was they shared. Spending nights apart when not on the road was growing gradually more unbearable. In the dark of night, Aaron reached for JJ's absent body. And when JJ opened her eyes, no matter where she was, it was Aaron's face she searched for first.

What had began as a coping mechanism to evade the craze their profession brought into their lives had evolved into something much stronger and infinitely deeper.

Of course, what remained was yet to be determined.

But as the door closed to room 208 that evening, each knew that it didn't matter. For now, they had this moment.

They had tonight.

_**Finis**_

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_**Dedicated to our Hero.**_


End file.
